Three months later the drought of Iago Aspas ended. The one in Moaña had been unmarked since December 30, when he did it against Huesca, and in an exhibition during the first 20 minutes of the game, Alavés has paid for the broken dishes by receiving a goal and two assists from 10 of Celta. Less than half an hour has needed the celestial captain to solve a match that leaves his team in eighth positionYes, eight points (with one more game) from some European positions that will not be reached except through a miracle.
Aspas started the season as a real shot but in this 2021 things were getting complicated. The injury that caused him to miss three games in January cut off his good dynamics and although no one doubted his great influence on the game, when it comes to numbers I had not seen the door yet and had only given two assists. The forward has removed that thorn with the recital offered against Alavés, getting his tenth goal and assist that also elevate him to a step that very few occupy in European football.
At the level of the best in Europe
The one from Moaña becomes in the first LaLiga Santander player to reach double digits and in the fourth that gets it in the big five leagues European. Harry kane (19 +13), Bruno fernandes (16 + 10), Thomas muller (10 + 15) are the three players who previously achieved these figures, as indicated by the Opta platform.
The goal-scoring generation capacity of Iago Aspas this season, being the top assistant of the championship, is at the level of three of the most prominent names in European football. Harry Kane is the top scorer and maximum assistant of the Premier while Bruno follows in the wake of being the third top scorer and assistant in the championship. For his part Müller leads the Bundesliga in assists and he is tied with Haaland and André Silva for the second highest scoring player in Germany, behind the unstoppable Robert Lewandowski. Big words.
Not only does the assists reflect that Aspas is one of the most dangerous players in LaLiga in three quarters of the field, but if the focus is placed on key passes, the name of the Celta player also appears at the top. According to whoscored data, with two key passes per game, Blades He is only surpassed by Sergio Canales (2.1) Leo Messi (2,2) and Toni Kroos (2.4). This great performance is clearly evidenced in another of the reference websites, Sofascore, where the forward is the fourth player with the best average score (7.45) of the entire league, ahead of Gerard Moreno (7.68) and again Kroos (7.68) and Messi (8.37). His influence on Celta is such that Coudet's team has not been able to win one of the four games it has played without 10, three defeats (Villarreal, Betis and Valencia) and a draw (Eibar).
The eternal debate with the Selection
With these data it is difficult to explain that Iago Aspas He has not been called up with the Spanish National Team since June 2019. In the last call for the recent national team break, Luis Enrique opted for Gerard Moreno and Álvaro Morata as forwards and Dani Olmo, Ferrán Torres, Bryan Gil and Oyarzabal as wingers, a position that the Galician can also occupy accompanying the forward.
The decision was criticized, especially by the Celta fans, and seeing the level of La Roja that suffered until the last minute to beat Georgia and that did not go beyond the draw against Greece, along with the new display of Aspas, the debate is reopened once more. In the respective league championships, none of the six summoned attackers has more assists that Aspas, only Morata equals him. AND Regarding goals, only Gerard Moreno has more than him, nineteen, being tied by Oyarzabal.
Not only do goals make the difference between who should go to the National Team and who should not, but seeing that their performance on the field is supported in a great way by their numbers, at least they should reflect on whether La Roja can do without a player like Iago Aspas. The debate is served and it does not seem that it is going to close until Luis Enrique decides the names with which he will try to conquer Europe again.